My BIL's House is at 28 ft above sea level a couple blocks from the intercoastal at the Eau Gallie river (or however it's spelled). He didn't leave because his truck is in the shop. I'm like, what about Uber? He couldn't make it happen though. My 14 yr old nephew is with him. The storm surge and ocean waves will be lessened by the barrier island but still.

Love is like a magic penny if you hold it tight you won't have any if you give it away you'll have so many they'll be rolling all over the floor

Yeah that too, just for added excitement. I hope anyone who stayed is significantly above sea level.

There is no "significantly above sea level" in central Floriida.

The barrier islands are fucked if the storm surge predictions come true, but Melbourne should be mostly spared... thanks to the barrier islands. As I said above ALL of my friends that live in the beach towns got out.

Yeah that too, just for added excitement. I hope anyone who stayed is significantly above sea level.

There is no "significantly above sea level" in central Floriida.

The barrier islands are fucked if the storm surge predictions come true, but Melbourne should be mostly spared... thanks to the barrier islands. As I said above ALL of my friends that live in the beach towns got out.

Dunno. The weather channel just said that. I'm thinking he's probably alright but it's still pretty worrisome. Oh. I see. They said landfall will be in a couple hours.

Love is like a magic penny if you hold it tight you won't have any if you give it away you'll have so many they'll be rolling all over the floor

2 of my friends who live beachside have made it back to their houses, no major damage, but power is still out. Maybe half the people inland have power,, and half don't. Nobody has reported major damage. Some small trees down, a couple damaged fences,

Things are a bit rougher further north. Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine had flooding because high tide coincided with the visit, so the storm surge pushed water over the dune.

Waffle House - the Georgia-headquartered fast food chain which prides itself on keeping locations open even in dire conditions, has closed 25 restaurants in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, it announced in a tweet earlier today:

This actually has has some significance. Waffle House is so reliably open that the Federal Emergency Managemant Agency (FEMA) uses the "Waffle House Index" as an unofficial measure of calamity, Business Insider reports.

Here's the gist of it: Waffle House restaurants notoriously stay open during natural disasters. So if the diner closes during an event, that suggests it was a really bad natural disaster with devastating effects on the economy. And on the flip side, if it stays open and serving a full menu, damage was relatively limited.

As a historical reference point: after 2011's Hurricane Irene, 22 Waffle Houses lost power in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Only one wasn't open by the Wednesday after the storm passed through -- a particularly hard hit location in coastal Virginia.

"If you get [to a place where a disaster hit] and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad," said FEMA administrator Craig Fugate back in 2011.